Although some called Apple’s third generation iPad a relatively “modest” update to its popular predecessor, sales for its opening weekend were through the roof. Apple announced this afternoon that 3 million iPads since have been sold since it was officially launched on Friday morning.

“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold?the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can't wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”

To put those numbers into perspective, Samsung -- third place in tablet sales behind Apple and Amazon -- shipped a mere 1.5 million Android-based tablets during all of Q4 2011 according to IDC.